Monday, January 27, 2014

SEVEN UP (1964): Response & Intro. to British Cinema

Hey guys, thanks for your participation today! I'm excited to explore the British Isles with you guys this week. Tonight (and tomorrow), I want you to think about "Seven Up" and respond to this question:




- What did you learn about British culture from these 7 year olds that surprised you?
- What do you have in common with these children who were born 60 years ago in a foreign country?
- How do you think culture (class differences, racial views, economy, religion, etc) affects filmmaking? How can we see a country's culture in the films we watch?

Thanks! Respond to this by tomorrow and we'll have more high fives!
David

6 comments:

  1. Ashton Bowers,

    I think it was pretty interesting how they made this series and I wish I could watch the rest. What I think I had in common with these kids was their energy, I was also a bit violent as a kid. But they seemed more mature, they talked more proper and seemed to know more language then I did or anyone I knew at that age, that may just be their education.

    How I think culture affects films is that people can show their culture and beliefs through films where a lot of people can see it. Also they could just want to make movies for entertainment and from their culture they see things in a different way so that is just what they know fits.

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  2. These seven year old kids were very interesting to watch and see their response on the questions that were being asked. Anyways, something that really surprised me was the fact that some kids knew what they were going to do in the future. Maybe not exactly, but they had already some plans on going to universities or some type of career. I don't know about you guys, but when i was seven i didn't have much planned other than what i wanted to be when i grow up at the time. British culture based on what i saw from the film was that people are really into education and going into private schools.

    Although these kids were born in a different place and time i still see some similarities between us. One thing i noticed is that they way the acted just as children. We all did silly things that all kids would do like mess around and having fun. So just the way we act as children is what we have in common. Culture can affect film making to me is the way a story might be built or how characters actions would be different. Which can help you see a countries culture would be like by comparing.

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  3. From what I learned was that they were into a lot more education then probably the US was at that time and probably today as well. I also learned that as seven year olds we try to act smart by winging it without ever noticing it (from watching them, I realized that I've done this as well) playing along acting as if we know what grown ups are saying.

    What we all have in common is that, we are all from different areas even if we live in the same country. One person was from a small village to another boy at the East-End of London. We all are Americans but we differ ourselves such as people from Boston and people from New York. Totally different.

    Class differences has a lot to do in Filmmaking in my opinion, take for example Bollywood and Hong Kong Cinema, they target to the poorer audience with having multiple genres in one movie. Instead of having one dramatic film they have; drama, comedy, action, goof-off moments,etc.

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  4. Well, if I will be honest, it was quite interesting to finally see this documentary after seeing all of the buzz about it. Well, buzz in the sense of seeing a parody done by The Simpsons and also seeing the poster for 35 Up on Josh's table. Still, it was buzz nonetheless, and I found it QUITE interesting.
    Of course there are the usual from culture, like accents, location, and everyday situations like fights. What I thought was interesting were the various differences that go along with time, like racism, or the more fancy taste in clothing that has deteriorated over time. Really interesting stuff.
    What do I have in common with these kids? Not much, if I am going to be honest. I would probably have more in common with the extra-kids in the back reading and not talking to anyone.
    And there are the obvious yet still interesting class differences. There's the fancy racist girl, the young ruffian with a girlfriend in the second grade for some reason, and the poor kids. Strange but really interesting stereotypes.
    All in all, I hope these kids all grow to have good lives, but it looks like I'll have to watch the whole series to see.

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  5. What the kids in the film showed me about their culture were things like how class was such a big deal. The higher classes had their whole lives planed out, where as lower class kids were just kind of going with it. This was probably just the times but the racial views of the kids really shocked me. Like the one kid that said she'd never met a person of color and she didn't ever want to meet one.
    What I feel like i had in common with the kids was that they aren't much different. That they are kids and they are just growing up too. They do kid things just like we used to and really we all aren't that different.
    I think the culture affects the filmmaking because of things like the social classes. They have to show that in their films because that's how their lives are. Things like racial views are also were a big thing so it was something that just came out into their films.

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